FIC: Love Wins Every Time 11/?
Hi everyone!
I am so thrilled with how this fic has been going, and I have been treasuring all your comments. You are making this so fun to write! I think, considering how things have been going on the show lately, that I will be very happy to just stay in my own little imaginary world here for awhile, and I invite you all to join me :) Not a lot of Addison in this chapter, but she has a really big part coming up, so don't worry! I needed to get Burke started on his moving on.
In this part: Nurse Olivia shows her special powers, Burke wants to have a vacation, Callie cleans up, and Addison steals a plane:)
Previous parts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
And now, on with the story!
--
He looks for Addison when he's ready for a break. Finally, he understands her fatigue with the gossip. He's just coming out of a grueling triple bypass, which he passed in awkward professional silence with Meredith Grey, when Callie rescues him.
"Hey, Heartbreaker."
He sighs. "I suppose I'll be getting that a lot."
"Well, that depends on who you ask. The 'men are scum' contingent calling for your head are actually a not very vocal minority."
"And the more vocal majority?"
"Your friends think you were too good for her."
"And those besides yourself, Dr. Montgomery and possibly Dr. Shepherd?"
"They just wonder what either of you two nutjobs ever saw in each other. And then, of course, there are the nurses, some of whom plan to snatch you up themselves, I think. Nurse Olivia seemed particularly interested in a…"
"Thank you," he interrupts. "I know all about Nurse Olivia."
"Yeah, I'll just bet you do. Hey, that was a joke, okay?"
"Right."
"Cause really, is there any other way to handle this?"
He brightens in his first smile of the day. "Why no, Dr. Torres. I suppose there is not."
"Atta Boy, Preston. You know, I had fun with you, when we had that thing, but I think I've reached my quota on friends who drown their sorrows in booze and men."
He doesn't ask her to clarify.
"So, have you given any thought?" she asks. "To, you know, plans or anything?"
He supposes he can't go back to the apartment. Not now, anyway. It occurs to him that nearly everyone he knows is presently living in a hotel already. He wonders if they can get him a group rate.
"I'm ready for a change," he admits. "Is there room?"
"At the Archfield?" She grins. "How did I know you would ask?"
--
Hours later, he is ready to call it a day. He has had enough of surgery, of snickers in the corridor, of Grey and the other interns glaring at him like he's some sort of villain. He still hasn't found Addison, but he senses that Callie has adopted him, for the night, anyway. She siddles up to him in the lounge and tells him she has just persuaded the chief to tag Cristina for a surgery.
"We've got three hours," she says.
"Three hours for what?"
"To go back to your place, get you some stuff, get you checked in. New life, Burke. You-time. You ready?"
He supposes he is. He lets Callie help herself to his food while he chooses the belongings which make him feel like a gentleman. He did not do a bad thing today. He knows he didn't. Cristina will be happier pursuing excellence. He will be happier pursuing happiness. The two simply aren’t compatible, and he doesn't know how he ever thought either of them could get to where they wanted to be by stifling their nature for another person. He wanted it so much. Wanted companionship. Wanted a beautiful, intelligent woman who spoke his language. Wanted a warm body to come home to who would ask about his day, and understand it when he explained it to her. On the surface, Cristina was those things. But there was something missing, and in his yearning to belong with her, he ignored it. They would not have been happy. He did a good thing.
He packs a few of his CDs into a traveling sleeve. The music has been his one indulgence as a well-earning professional. He plans his holidays around the concert venues, and he has been fortunate to see many talented performers live. He tries to picture a woman in that life. She would love him enough to indulge him in the concert, surely, even if she was not a music lover herself. He would share his passion with her anyway, and she would find a part of it which spoke to her. But there would be more, with a woman there. He would augment the itinerary according to her likings: a more plush accommodation, perhaps, or dinners out in slightly nicer restaurants. Perhaps she would occupy herself with the local retail business and surprise him with a sexy outfit. Perhaps he would pick it himself and delight her with the gift. But it would add another layer to the music, surely. It would enrich something already beautiful with the memory of something all the more beautiful than that, and the piece, whatever it was, would forever smell like wine and food and sex. Yes, he could imagine a woman in that life.
"Burke?" Callie comes looking for him, poking her head into the bedroom. "You okay in there?"
He pops out of his reverie and feels, for the first time that day, appropriately sad. Callie immediately senses it.
"Yeah, it sucks, doesn't it? You know, I probably don't even need to tell you this, but it's for the best, you know?"
"Uh huh."
"And she'll be fine. And you'll be fine. And you'll be performing a value public service in providing the hospital with its gossip needs."
And it occurs to him that perhaps there is a previous gossip victim who will be grateful for the respite in attention…
"Come on," she says. "I've got your room set up, then we're meeting Addison for Couch Time."
"Couch Time?"
"Our own gossip ritual, in which the Seattle Grace contingent of the Archfield dwellers engages in a little bit of decompressing." She gives him a saucy wink. "George is gonna flip when he sees you."
--
She's made arrangements for the room, and worked out some sort of deal on the rate for him. He is exhausted, and grateful for a friend. And he feels his mood lightening when she guides him to a certain couch in the midst of the cavernous lobby, and he sees Addison there. She looks terrible, her eyes red and solemn, her skin pale and dry. But she's there. And almost as soon as she offers him a half-hearted smile of greeting, her pager goes off, and she closes her eyes.
"You've got to be kidding me," she says.
Callie takes her by the arm. "You gonna be alright, hon?"
"Have I got any choice in the matter? Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. See you in a bit?"
He feels depressed again. The day has just sucked. There is no other word for it. The day? It sucked.
--
O'Malley turns up, with Karev in tow, and stays a token few minutes before begging off to go drinking. Callie puts up a minimal fight, then releases him.
"He's never really gotten into Couch Time," she admits. "It's more Addison and me. It's been nice for me to have a friend."
"For me too," he admits.
"Honestly, I'm a little jealous," Callie admits. "I mean, you know her better. You've been working with her for a couple months already."
"We've only had a few cases together," he says.
"Yeah, so have we. The first one? It was this woman, she fell in the shower and broke her arm. Bad break, really painful, but she turned down the meds because she was toughing it out for the baby."
"And?"
"And the baby had died already. Really sad. You should have seen Addison's face when she saw it on the ultrasound. Anyway, she freaked, like, big time, and I went and talked to her. And the rest, as they say, is Best Friend history."
He does not volunteer the events that prompted him to connect with her. Somehow, it seems gauche to kiss and tell, even if he was not the one to do the kissing. Especially if he was not the one to do it.
"It's been hard for her," Callie says. "Showing up every day, seeing Derek and Meredith together…and Sloan…and Karev…"
He blinks. "You know about that?"
"Once a nurse finds out, everyone knows it. Have you really not figured that out? Look, Addison, maybe she doesn't always handle her feelings in the most constructive way. But she's fun, too. You know, she tells great stories?"
"Oh?"
"The perks of a privileged childhood. She's traveled all over the place. She told me about this time, she was, what, nineteen or something? And some trendy band, I forget which one, was having a new year's eve concert on this little island near Ibiza, and she wanted to go, but her parents wouldn't let her. So she snuck out with her cousin, and they hot-wired daddy's plane and took twelve of their friends with them…a plane, Preston. Most kids, they hijack a car. Can you imagine? A freaking plane?"
"Did they get caught?" he asks.
"Ah, that part. That part would fall under the disadvantages of a privileged childhood. Self-absorbed mom and workaholic dad never even noticed she was gone. But the concert was apparently spectacular."
He bets it was. Music worth stealing a plane for? Oh, he just bets it was.
I am so thrilled with how this fic has been going, and I have been treasuring all your comments. You are making this so fun to write! I think, considering how things have been going on the show lately, that I will be very happy to just stay in my own little imaginary world here for awhile, and I invite you all to join me :) Not a lot of Addison in this chapter, but she has a really big part coming up, so don't worry! I needed to get Burke started on his moving on.
In this part: Nurse Olivia shows her special powers, Burke wants to have a vacation, Callie cleans up, and Addison steals a plane:)
Previous parts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
And now, on with the story!
--
He looks for Addison when he's ready for a break. Finally, he understands her fatigue with the gossip. He's just coming out of a grueling triple bypass, which he passed in awkward professional silence with Meredith Grey, when Callie rescues him.
"Hey, Heartbreaker."
He sighs. "I suppose I'll be getting that a lot."
"Well, that depends on who you ask. The 'men are scum' contingent calling for your head are actually a not very vocal minority."
"And the more vocal majority?"
"Your friends think you were too good for her."
"And those besides yourself, Dr. Montgomery and possibly Dr. Shepherd?"
"They just wonder what either of you two nutjobs ever saw in each other. And then, of course, there are the nurses, some of whom plan to snatch you up themselves, I think. Nurse Olivia seemed particularly interested in a…"
"Thank you," he interrupts. "I know all about Nurse Olivia."
"Yeah, I'll just bet you do. Hey, that was a joke, okay?"
"Right."
"Cause really, is there any other way to handle this?"
He brightens in his first smile of the day. "Why no, Dr. Torres. I suppose there is not."
"Atta Boy, Preston. You know, I had fun with you, when we had that thing, but I think I've reached my quota on friends who drown their sorrows in booze and men."
He doesn't ask her to clarify.
"So, have you given any thought?" she asks. "To, you know, plans or anything?"
He supposes he can't go back to the apartment. Not now, anyway. It occurs to him that nearly everyone he knows is presently living in a hotel already. He wonders if they can get him a group rate.
"I'm ready for a change," he admits. "Is there room?"
"At the Archfield?" She grins. "How did I know you would ask?"
--
Hours later, he is ready to call it a day. He has had enough of surgery, of snickers in the corridor, of Grey and the other interns glaring at him like he's some sort of villain. He still hasn't found Addison, but he senses that Callie has adopted him, for the night, anyway. She siddles up to him in the lounge and tells him she has just persuaded the chief to tag Cristina for a surgery.
"We've got three hours," she says.
"Three hours for what?"
"To go back to your place, get you some stuff, get you checked in. New life, Burke. You-time. You ready?"
He supposes he is. He lets Callie help herself to his food while he chooses the belongings which make him feel like a gentleman. He did not do a bad thing today. He knows he didn't. Cristina will be happier pursuing excellence. He will be happier pursuing happiness. The two simply aren’t compatible, and he doesn't know how he ever thought either of them could get to where they wanted to be by stifling their nature for another person. He wanted it so much. Wanted companionship. Wanted a beautiful, intelligent woman who spoke his language. Wanted a warm body to come home to who would ask about his day, and understand it when he explained it to her. On the surface, Cristina was those things. But there was something missing, and in his yearning to belong with her, he ignored it. They would not have been happy. He did a good thing.
He packs a few of his CDs into a traveling sleeve. The music has been his one indulgence as a well-earning professional. He plans his holidays around the concert venues, and he has been fortunate to see many talented performers live. He tries to picture a woman in that life. She would love him enough to indulge him in the concert, surely, even if she was not a music lover herself. He would share his passion with her anyway, and she would find a part of it which spoke to her. But there would be more, with a woman there. He would augment the itinerary according to her likings: a more plush accommodation, perhaps, or dinners out in slightly nicer restaurants. Perhaps she would occupy herself with the local retail business and surprise him with a sexy outfit. Perhaps he would pick it himself and delight her with the gift. But it would add another layer to the music, surely. It would enrich something already beautiful with the memory of something all the more beautiful than that, and the piece, whatever it was, would forever smell like wine and food and sex. Yes, he could imagine a woman in that life.
"Burke?" Callie comes looking for him, poking her head into the bedroom. "You okay in there?"
He pops out of his reverie and feels, for the first time that day, appropriately sad. Callie immediately senses it.
"Yeah, it sucks, doesn't it? You know, I probably don't even need to tell you this, but it's for the best, you know?"
"Uh huh."
"And she'll be fine. And you'll be fine. And you'll be performing a value public service in providing the hospital with its gossip needs."
And it occurs to him that perhaps there is a previous gossip victim who will be grateful for the respite in attention…
"Come on," she says. "I've got your room set up, then we're meeting Addison for Couch Time."
"Couch Time?"
"Our own gossip ritual, in which the Seattle Grace contingent of the Archfield dwellers engages in a little bit of decompressing." She gives him a saucy wink. "George is gonna flip when he sees you."
--
She's made arrangements for the room, and worked out some sort of deal on the rate for him. He is exhausted, and grateful for a friend. And he feels his mood lightening when she guides him to a certain couch in the midst of the cavernous lobby, and he sees Addison there. She looks terrible, her eyes red and solemn, her skin pale and dry. But she's there. And almost as soon as she offers him a half-hearted smile of greeting, her pager goes off, and she closes her eyes.
"You've got to be kidding me," she says.
Callie takes her by the arm. "You gonna be alright, hon?"
"Have I got any choice in the matter? Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. See you in a bit?"
He feels depressed again. The day has just sucked. There is no other word for it. The day? It sucked.
--
O'Malley turns up, with Karev in tow, and stays a token few minutes before begging off to go drinking. Callie puts up a minimal fight, then releases him.
"He's never really gotten into Couch Time," she admits. "It's more Addison and me. It's been nice for me to have a friend."
"For me too," he admits.
"Honestly, I'm a little jealous," Callie admits. "I mean, you know her better. You've been working with her for a couple months already."
"We've only had a few cases together," he says.
"Yeah, so have we. The first one? It was this woman, she fell in the shower and broke her arm. Bad break, really painful, but she turned down the meds because she was toughing it out for the baby."
"And?"
"And the baby had died already. Really sad. You should have seen Addison's face when she saw it on the ultrasound. Anyway, she freaked, like, big time, and I went and talked to her. And the rest, as they say, is Best Friend history."
He does not volunteer the events that prompted him to connect with her. Somehow, it seems gauche to kiss and tell, even if he was not the one to do the kissing. Especially if he was not the one to do it.
"It's been hard for her," Callie says. "Showing up every day, seeing Derek and Meredith together…and Sloan…and Karev…"
He blinks. "You know about that?"
"Once a nurse finds out, everyone knows it. Have you really not figured that out? Look, Addison, maybe she doesn't always handle her feelings in the most constructive way. But she's fun, too. You know, she tells great stories?"
"Oh?"
"The perks of a privileged childhood. She's traveled all over the place. She told me about this time, she was, what, nineteen or something? And some trendy band, I forget which one, was having a new year's eve concert on this little island near Ibiza, and she wanted to go, but her parents wouldn't let her. So she snuck out with her cousin, and they hot-wired daddy's plane and took twelve of their friends with them…a plane, Preston. Most kids, they hijack a car. Can you imagine? A freaking plane?"
"Did they get caught?" he asks.
"Ah, that part. That part would fall under the disadvantages of a privileged childhood. Self-absorbed mom and workaholic dad never even noticed she was gone. But the concert was apparently spectacular."
He bets it was. Music worth stealing a plane for? Oh, he just bets it was.